Fair Work Commission issues warning about rostering casual employees

In determining that a casual employee who worked in accordance with an established rostering system was protected from unfair dismissal under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the "FW Act"), the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission (the "FWC") has issued a warning about rostering casual employees.

1. Facts

The facts of the matter can be summarised as follows:

• the Appellant commenced employment on a casual basis on 24 February 2019 (without a written employment agreement);
• from about 4 March 2019, the Appellant was allocated a basic roster each week and performed additional shifts as required, with the Appellant having the first choice of available hours;
• in August 2019, the Appellant was told by the Company that unless she accepted an offer of permanent employment, she could not hold a reasonable expectation of continuing employment on a regular and systematic basis;